


The Ghost

by scarvenrot



Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: Apologies, Multi, So much headcanon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-14
Updated: 2013-06-14
Packaged: 2017-12-14 22:50:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/842263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarvenrot/pseuds/scarvenrot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zacharie tells You the story of the World's nonexistent pre-Game past to entertain You, while asking a very important question of his own...which may or may not be against the rules.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ghost

Ah! Hello.

Your lack of surprise is as endearing as ever. I expected You to return in much the same way You left: numb, and pensive. Very well, then! Sit down, we’ll talk! Or rather, I’ll talk, haha. I do hope you don’t mind. I know You’ve never been one for verbalizing Your feelings. _I_ don’t mind. Remember, I’m not meant to mind.

It’s difficult to stay within these constructs, now, though. You’ve destroyed most of them, haven’t You? Naughty You. You made that choice. Don’t blame me, now. I was only compelled to help You achieve Your goal. We all carried out our own ends of the bargain. Whether or not I have regrets is completely irrelevant. Not to mention impossible! I’m a video game character, remember?

It is nice that You’ve come to listen to me talk about my purpose, though, even though it is rather straightforward. You know everything You were meant to know about me, I suppose, don’t You? Everything that You saw is all the Truth I have to offer You. There’s nothing else left of the world now, after all.

Does my world fascinate You? Is that why You’ve come back? How wonderful. It is nice to think that there’s more than what You’re given, isn’t it? Though we both know the truth, now. Hmm? What did I say?

…Of course “now”. There’s always only been “now.”

Ah! I can almost see the glint in Your eye. You want me to give You something, don’t You? Always wanting, that’s how I remember You. Credits are rather redundant now, aren’t they? Pointless and worthless at this point. Hahaha. They never really meant anything to begin with, You know. Your insatiable greed becomes You.

It’s humorous that You think _I’m_ the greedy one, even after all this time. I charge only what I’m told to charge. If You alter the game data, everything is free, my dear.

Now, now. Now now now. I always have just what You need. Don’t fret. We’ll play a game. You love games.

Your job is to decide what here in my story is a lie, and what’s the truth. I’ll leave it up to You. You’re so _good_ at making choices, after all.

…I don’t claim to understand everything about how this came to be or why, but I do know that it was strange to Remember everything about this place and its people all at once: even the bits and the people I’d never seen before. I like to pretend that I’ve always had a fondness for traveling, even though I know that’s nothing more than a fabricated memory…but the Knowing gave me a compulsion to go out and explore unlike that fondness ever would have pushed me, anyway. One second of time passed, Somewhere, and then time stopped forever for me, and the rest of this world, until I met You.

I am one second old. In my youth I have been driven to seek out real memories of what I Remembered in that second of my life before time stopped for me forever. Does the plastic really move like that beside that building, I’ve wondered? You know the one. Tell me…does that particular little Elsen really tear pages out of the books? What a little scoundrel. It might seem trivial to You, these things, but the more I’ve wanted it, the less I’ve been able to look for these Truths. I am restricted to a set path. I have preprogrammed words to say to You, and to anyone else that You happen to be controlling. You know the one.

Hahaha.

I quickly realized that my desire to go places and my inability to do so was maddening. Even more so, however, was all of the falseness lining my brain.

Aha!

Oh, my apologies. It’s just so amusing to think that I physically exist in a way that You would understand, or that I could even explain.

As a video game character, all of my memories were false before I Lived for one second. Everything that I know about this place and how we fit into it is True! And it is as True as the Truth You Yourself know, now, having played the game. Everyone else had memories of living here, though: in this place that we understand, You and I, in our privilege, to be Made Up. Everyone else had memories of false time spent here, and of once being noble, and of associating with people they’d never actually met before. I can’t imagine that anyone would understand what that’s like. I was given the Truth, and consequently, I’m now able to choose my own imagined history! Though some of my false memories were rather nice, I suppose.

I could make this very dramatic for You. Would You like that? Are You seeking drama and darkness? In a way, I suppose we all are. I think I might like to just stick with what I myself was given to work with, though. Perhaps I’ll embellish a little here and there. Perhaps I’ll change one or two things to surprise You. Like I said, it’s up to You to decide what you believe. You have such a luxury! I hope You’re happy.

Please excuse me if the manner in which I’m speaking appears to be condescending in any way. I certainly don’t believe myself to be any better than anyone, and especially not You. Who am I, after all? A young man who has made a name for himself, having moved out of his father’s considerable shadow some empty expanse of nonexistent time ago, who journeyed extensively and saw the beautiful world from, for the most part, behind a mask…before I Remembered, of course.

It’s a bit dull to Know Everything, to be honest. You find after some time that there’s not anything to wonder about anymore, and it does get a bit lonely, even if that isn’t quite written into the programming. You may not be able to see it, but I’m winking to You knowingly right now. Oh, yes.

I haven’t had a question in only You know how long. Or perhaps You don’t. I scarcely remember what a real question is! Though there is one thing that weighs on my mind, which I suppose I’m searching for, now that it’s all over. I’m not sure if it’s an answer that I want, per se, but rather the final piece of my Knowing, if You will. Do You understand? Despite my Knowing Everything, here, there is one thing that I haven’t yet discovered. Something from Somewhere. Out There. Where You’re from. I suppose it’s the thing that keeps me here, even after the end of the game.

We’ll get to that. You can have a bit of a break, if You’d like. I’m not going anywhere, and I assure You, it will be the same time here when You get back.


End file.
